Cool Japan: the relationships between the state and the cultural industries

2.5 Conclusion

This chapter reviewed the different theories available to investigate the relationships between the state and business in political science, respectively corporatism, pluralism, Marxism and elitism. It explained that the statist tradition within elitism represents a good option to develop a conceptual framework based on the notion of the developmental state because statism stresses the relative degree of autonomy of the state (Skocpol, 1979) and state capacity, for example its infrastructural power (Mann, 1988). Actually, the developmental state, as an analytical tool, was coined by Johnson in 1982 when political science experienced an upsurge of interest in the state in the 1980s.

The aim of this chapter was to present a theoretical framework to study the relationships between the state and the cultural industries in Japan. This analytical tool relies on the concept of the developmental state. This model of state has three different characteristics. First, the developmental state has institutional links with business actors. It favours cooperative relations with sectors or industry associations rather than individual relations (Weiss, 2000: 23). Secondly, it possesses a relative degree of autonomy vis-à-vis firms. Indeed, on one hand, it is in close contact with business actors so that it is knowledgeable about the last developments in the markets. This is vital to ensure the deliverance of sound economic policies. On the other hand, the developmental state has to keep some distance in order to avoid being captured from private interests, from the rent-seeking behaviour of corporations. Such a characteristic is called embedded autonomy (Evans, 1995) or governed interdependence (Weiss, 1995).

Lastly, the Japanese developmental state is premised on a shared consensus and commitment of the elite, including the bureaucracy, to close the technological gap between Japan and the industrialized economies of the West. The end of the process of catching-up does not imply the end of the developmental state because a new logic appears, that of keeping up. The elite still wants to secure the competitiveness of its national economy, a priority that cannot be let totally to the whims of the market. It is why, in spite of the implementation of neoliberal reforms and amid globalization, the Japanese developmental state has not become obsolescent. It has adapted to a new context.

This theoretical framework is employed as a lens to analyze the policy Cool Japan in Chapter 5 and the reactions of the cultural industries (manga, anime and video games) to this policy in Chapter 6. The methodology adopted in this doctoral research is based on a qualitative approach and, more specifically, on case studies. This means that each reaction of these sectors is explained in a different case study. In this way, the topic of this thesis can be examined in-depth.

Chapter 3: Cultural industries in Japan

3.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to set the scene for Chapters 5 and 6. It provides a broad overview of the Japanese cultural industries and explains the evolution of the domestic market. It focuses on the anime, manga and video games industries. Evidence will be given to show the importance that cultural industries occupy in the Japanese economy. This overview is necessary because it shows their capacity to produce and commercialize pop culture on a massive scale. Moreover, the domestic market represents the industrial basis of these industries. The size and structure of the Japanese market cannot be overlooked. Indeed, it is especially the accumulated experience, abilities and skills in the commodification and commercialization of their products in the domestic market that enabled them to build their competiveness before their expansion abroad in the 1980s and 1990s (Otmazgin, 2013: 52-3).

The chapter is divided into three sections. The first section examines the characteristics of the Japanese cultural industries, in particular the close relationships between them and their customers (the case of otaku) and between them and amateurs (the case of dōjinshi⁴⁰) as well as media mix. The second section deals with the structure of the anime, video games and manga industries. For the anime sector, it focuses on the production committee system, the low-cost strategy of anime studios, the poor working conditions of animators and the lack of animators. It explains that the video games sector is made up of console makers (hardware) and software developers. It also details that the manga industry consists of mangaka, publishers and retailers. The last section analyzes the evolution of the domestic market, respectively since the beginning of the 1990s for the manga industry, since the mid-90s for the video games one, and since the beginning of the 2000s for the anime one. It makes clear that the emergence of the Internet represents a current challenge for this sector of the Japanese economy.

3.2 The characteristics of the Japanese cultural industries

Many countries other than Japan have commodified and marketized their popular culture to some degree, either for entertainment or for propaganda purposes (Mulcahy, 2006). Nevertheless, Japan represents an extreme case because the commercialization of a large array of different forms of entertainment is massive. For Donald Richie (2003), Japan is an “image factory”. It has an uncommon ability for creating, commodifying and marketizing cultural innovations and fashion trends, both native and imported. In contrast to other countries, the process of commodification and commercialization in Japan are much more visible and exaggerated (Richie, 2003).

It is true that the Japanese cultural industries are high-skilled in translating artistic creations into consumer products and commercializing them for particular audiences. The process consists of extracting and localizing images, fashion trends and fads. Then, they are turned into products produced and marketized. Creativity is at the heart of this process and is combined with a commercial logic (Otmazgin, 2013: 54).

The Japanese cultural industries are very effective at manufacturing commodified popular culture on a massive scale. At the beginning, a large part of them, such as anime, video games, pop music and television programs, drew upon Western technologies. They were also influenced by Western culture diffused in Japan after the end of the Second World War. The majority of popular cultural products present in the current domestic market associates the strengths of not only imported technologies but also local culture (Nakamura, 2004; Low, 2009; Mōri, 2009; Pope, 2012). Nevertheless, ultimately, the Japanese cultural industries began to create products to target domestic audiences. They shifted from simply imitating Western popular culture to become world-class producers of pop culture. Anime, manga and video games are among the best-known examples (Otmazgin, 2013: 54).

Several characteristics help to explain the ability of the Japanese cultural industries to manufacture commodified popular culture and to market it on a massive scale. For instance, the close relationships between the cultural industries and their audience facilitate creativity in popular culture. Rather than being erratic, these relationships are constant and very active. For the cultural industries, they are paramount in order to extract individual creativity and to transform it into new products. In the case of the audience, the close relationships with the cultural industries give an opportunity to become an active part in the commodification of culture, not only in the creative stages but also in the final design of the products (Otmazgin, 2013: 55-6).

The case of otaku is a perfect example of active audience participation in the production of popular culture in Japan and the close proximity between the cultural industries and their customers. Otaku are by a huge majority men, who are passionate about anime, video games and manga, and attracted to fictional worlds. In Japanese society, otaku is a pejorative term. Otaku are harshly criticized for four reasons. Firstly, they are reproached for being detached from reality. They do not perform their roles and responsibilities at home, school and work. Secondly, it is assumed that they are unable to communicate with others. Thirdly, they are considered as failed males. They do not correspond to the social standards of masculinity of Japan. Lastly, they consume and play in uncommon and inappropriate ways (Kam, 2013).

However, at the same time, otaku are praised for being enthusiastic and heavy consumers of Japanese popular culture. Their creativity symbolized by dōjinshi is also valued. The total number of otaku is estimated at 2.85 million of individuals, for a market size of ¥290 billion (Kitabayashi, 2004: 2). Their purchases account for more than 11 per cent of the simple aggregate of the market sizes (¥2.3 trillion) of the anime, manga, idols and video games (Kitabayashi, 2004: 2). The table below details the population and the market size of five sectors of the Japanese content industries. It shows the considerable consuming power of otaku. They can no longer be considered as a niche market (Kitabayashi, 2004: 2).

Table 3. Size of the otaku group in five major fields

Fields		Population⃰⃰ (thousand)	Market size (¥1 billion)	Major indexes
Manga		1000	100	- Number of participants in spot sale of fanzines - Circulation of specific magazines
Animation		200	20	- DVD sales per title - Circulation of specific magazines
Idols		800	60	- Size of concert audiences - Sales of first-release CDs
Games	Home-use Personal Computer (PC) Network Arcade, etc.	570 140 30 60	45 19 1 13	- Number of hours spent playing games - Circulation of specific magazines - Rate of game players who participate in network games
PC assembly	Wealthy Junk	30 20	30 2	- Number of specific parts sold - Sales at PC parts shops in Akihabara - Circulation of specific magazines

⃰ Including overlapping categories
Source: Kitabayashi, 2004: 2.
Apart from being heavy consumers, otaku also serve as a base for testing new products. Being extremely knowledgeable about the latest trends, they filter or contribute to the diffusion of new products to the market. Most of the time, they are the first consumers of the latest products commercialized (Otmazgin, 2013: 63). The otaku market’s role when new products are introduced is illustrated below.
Table 3. Diffusion of new products in the market

The Otaku Stage	Popularization 1	Popularization 2	Declining Stage
Initial consumption and assessment of new products entering the market	Consumption by a wider circle of consumers	Mass consumption, product diversification, and marketing of related products and accessories	Gradual reduction in consumption and appearance of new products

Source: Nomura Research Institute, 2005b: 47.

The close relationships between the cultural industries and amateurs represent another characteristic of these sectors. The Japanese cultural industries have been successful in supporting, recruiting and co-opting individual creativity and private initiatives to contribute to corporate success. Amateurs’ creations are embraced and packaged by the cultural industries, often for a very low compensation. Yet, successful amateurs have the opportunity to showcase their talents and hope to be recruited by the established industries (Otmazgin, 2013: 56).

The case of dōjinshi illustrates the close proximity between, on the one hand, manga publishers and consumers; and on the other hand, the manga industry and amateurs. The manga sector has co-opted these amateur artists so that they become part of their business. It is in the mid-1970s that dōjinshi appeared in Japan. Amateur manga artists began to sell their works to manga fans in fairs. Nowadays, the largest dōjinshi convention, Comiket (an abbreviation for Comic Market), is held twice a year in Tokyo (August and December), and attracts half-million visitors. Dōjinshi conventions gather tens of thousands of amateur artists selling their own works (Pink, 2007).

Dōjinshi are often but not always based on existing manga. The characters are most of the time similar to those present in existing manga. Nevertheless, amateur manga usually feature parody, sexual content and violent scenes. So how do we explain that, confronted with a clear violation of copyright, manga editors prefer not to sue amateur manga artists and dōjinshi publishers? How can we explain such tolerance although dōjinshi conventions have grown in scale since their creation? At the conventions in Tokyo and Osaka, amateur manga buy hundreds of thousands of books annually, amounting to millions of US dollars. Actually, the manga sector and dōjinshi publishers have reached a tacit agreement. As long as the latter edit amateur manga only on a small scale, the former tolerates their activities (Pink, 2007).

The manga industry even benefits from dōjinshi in three ways. First, amateur manga maintain the interest of fans in purchasing manga because their works are based on the originals. These amateur artists make free promotion for manga (Patrick Galbraith Interview, 28/01/2014). Secondly, among dōjinshi authors, the manga editors can discover and recruit new talented workers. Professional manga artists such as Takahashi Rumiko, Fujishima Kōsuke, CLAMP and Akamatsu Ken were originally dōjinshi creators (Kinsella, 2000: 134; Shimoku, 2008: 120-9). Lastly, instead of conducting expensive customer surveys, dōjinshi conventions provide the opportunity for manga publishers to gain easy and free access to their audiences. They can know what is currently popular or not, and about the current and future trends (Patrick Galbraith Interview, 28/01/2014). Therefore, dōjinshi revolve around a close interaction between, on the one hand, the manga industry and the consumers; and on the other hand, the professionals and the amateurs. Each side gains an advantage in this reciprocal system (Pink, 2007).

Media mix also represents a characteristic of the Japanese cultural industries. Media mix refers to “the cross-media serialization and circulation of entertainment franchises” (Steinberg, 2012: viii). This popular, widely used term⁴¹ gained its current meaning at the end of the 1980s (Steinberg, 2012: viii). Media mix echoes the concept of convergence defined as “the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want” (Jenkins, 2006: 2). Media mix is vital for anime because their survival depend on other media (manga, toys and video games). According to Steinberg, “media mix is anime’s life support system” (Quoted in Jenkins, 2013). It is rare that the Japanese cultural industries produce stand-alone products, at least in the case of manga, anime and light novels (Jenkins, 2013). The majority of anime is based on manga (Yokota Masao Interview, 06/03/2014). For Condry, 60 per cent of the Japanese animation is adapted from already-popular manga characters (Quoted in Jenkins, 2013).

The franchise Pokémon is a famous example of media mix. It started as a pair of video games in 1996. Nowadays, this franchise encompasses a card game, anime TV (Television) series and featured animation, movies, toys, manga and so on. From 1996 until 2013, its cumulative sales were worth ¥4 trillion, respectively ¥1.8 trillion for the domestic market, and ¥2.2 trillion for the foreign one (Famitsū, 2013). Another very lucrative example of media mix is Yu-Gi-Oh! which began as a manga and, since then, has spawned a TV series, a card game, at least ten video games, and character goods (T-shirts, pencil boxes, packaged curry etc.) (Itō, 2007: 93). These cases of media mix demonstrate the strong proximity between the sectors of video games, manga and anime in Japan.